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Monday, June 22, 2009

The World Champions get shown up by Brazil then shown the exit

In an unbelievable turn of events the defending World Cup Champions got whacked by the conductors of “the beautiful game” 3-0. In what was billed as the tournament's showcase game Brazil effectively ended the clash as a contest at half-time, with all their goals coming in an eight minute spell at the end of the first half. Luis Fabiano helped himself to two goals before Italy defender Andrea Dossena put through his own net to round off the score. Italy manager Marcelo Lippi kept faith in the players who had helped him win the World Cup in 2006 with six players who had started the final in Germany starting on Sunday, but the vets let him down as they couldn’t muster any offense in the second half. After an impressive win vs. the US in game one the Italians finished the pool with two lack luster efforts and now find themselves looking towards the 2010 World Cup with more questions than momentum. On the flip side the US may have gotten the win that US supporters have been looking for, one where the team played with the spirit they didn’t show in the previous two matches, and finally had the offense play to their potential as the blew out Egypt 3-0 (actually should have been 4-0 but an obvious handball was not called). With the win, coupled the afore mentioned improbable Italian loss get the US through on goal differential. A result that could not have seemed more improbable after the match day one, and for their reward the US gets to play Spain who has not lost an international match since a 2006 friendly to Romania. How far can the US go?